That's normal I think. The initial idea may have things going in one direction and while writing it out another, better idea, pops up. Moby Dick is a good example. It starts out with a big piece about a man named Bulkington from what I understand and then he's washed overboard one night. Why? Because Melville had discovered a character by the name of Ahab.

You are just finding out your working process. Don't over-analyze it now because writing anything is infinitely better than writing nothing. Just know that there will be a significant edit and rewrite phase no matter which process you use. Don't let that cast a shadow over getting your words on paper. It doesn't matter how many scenes/characters/clever turns of phrases you don't end up using. Nothing is wasted if it gets you to the finish line.

Actually that's a very good average word count if you can keep it up. The minimum daily count for NaNoWriMo is 1,667 words a day so in 30 days or a little less (if you write for 30 days on the same story) you'll have some 50,000 words of manuscript. It sounds interesting and just goes to show that an older piece of writing can inspire something new.

...and 50,000 is - or was - the max to get published by Mills and Boone. Not that it's a guarantee, unfortunately, but don't overdo it!

(From the man who's never been under 140,000 words)

On another point, when I started, I wrote for two hours on Monday evenings whilst my wife was at choir practice. Later I had a one-hour train ride to and from work. Both cases gave me two hours of writing, and I reckoned that a good average was 2,000 words a day. Which isn't far from Critch's 1,667.

My biggest problem at the moment is that I thought I knew how I wanted the story to go...but it's now being taken in another direction. Same outcome at the end, but A to B is going to probably end up completely different.

That can happen even if you have a detailed synopsis. The thing is, however much time you have spent learning about your characters and mapping their characteristics, you will find that they develop in ways you didn't expect, and do things you didn't plan, or do them quicker, or slower.

That can happen even if you have a detailed synopsis. The thing is, however much time you have spent learning about your characters and mapping their characteristics, you will find that they develop in ways you didn't expect, and do things you didn't plan, or do them quicker, or slower.

My biggest problem at the moment is that I thought I knew how I wanted the story to go...but it's now being taken in another direction. Same outcome at the end, but A to B is going to probably end up completely different.

If the muse leads you in a different direction, just follow along. Your subconscious can sometimes lead you to better stories than you had originally intended.

If the muse leads you in a different direction, just follow along. Your subconscious can sometimes lead you to better stories than you had originally intended.

Or not ... as the case may be. Not all the threads you follow will be successful (or not publishable). But I do agree with the sentiment anyway. Sometimes you just have to follow a path to find out where it leads. Even if you have to back track and try again, as long as you remembered to enjoy the scenery along the way they were still paths worth taking.

Or not ... as the case may be. Not all the threads you follow will be successful (or not publishable). But I do agree with the sentiment anyway. Sometimes you just have to follow a path to find out where it leads. Even if you have to back track and try again, as long as you remembered to enjoy the scenery along the way they were still paths worth taking.

Yep, an outline isn't intended as a set in stone path that the writer has to follow. It's more of a general guide. For example if you were planning a trip cross country from New York to Los Angeles you would probably plan how many miles you thought you would want to travel per day, how much you would spend on gas and food, and a general route of roads that you planned to use to get you where you wanted to go, both in the long term final destination and where you wanted to be at points in between points A and Z. Of course some roads may be closed due to repairs or you may find them congested with traffic, etc. when the time came which would make detours necessary which would change some things from your general plan but such are not as important as reaching your destination.